Partnerships

Partnerships

In this complex, globalized, post 9/11-world, our operational partnerships have never been more important to our efforts to protect your communities.

Today, we work with colleagues at every level of government—local, state, federal, even international—across the law enforcement, intelligence, and first responder communities. We lead and take part in multi-agency task forces, intelligence groups and fusion centers, and public and private sector alliances. A number of our partners literally sit shoulder-to-shoulder with us in FBI space, just as we share our agents and analysts with other agencies. We work closely on joint investigations—sometimes taking the lead, sometimes taking a back seat to others, sometimes contributing equally among many agencies. Our work with our colleagues, in fact, is so intertwined today that it’s often nearly impossible to separate the contributions of one agency—and one nation—from the next.

In Milwaukee, our major partnerships include:

The Milwaukee Joint Terrorism Task Force brings together representatives of local, state, and federal agencies to run down any and all terrorism leads, develop and investigate cases, provide support for special events, and proactively identify threats that may impact the area and the nation.

The Milwaukee Field Intelligence Group is a team of FBI agents and analysts who provide a full range of intelligence support on terrorism and criminal threats.

The Racine Violent Crimes Task Force targets violent street gangs and drug trafficking organizations operating within the Racine metropolitan area. This task force was established in 1999. The participating agencies are the FBI, the Racine Police Department, and the Racine County Sheriff’s Office.

The Menominee Indian Reservation Safe Trails Task Force, launched in 1998, targets violent crimes, gang violence, and drug trafficking on the Menominee Indian Reservation. The participating agencies are the FBI, the Menominee Tribal Police, and the Shawano County Sheriff’s Office.

InfraGard, begun as a pilot program in 1996 in the FBI’s Cleveland Division, has two chapters in Wisconsin—one in Milwaukee (established in April 1999) and the other in Madison (established in April 2000). InfraGard is a “partnership for protection” between the public and private sectors to address both cyber and physical threats. Educational training meetings are held every other month in Milwaukee and quarterly in Madison. InfraGard also offers public and private sector companies/entities the opportunity to sign a formal membership agreement and secure website access agreement, which allows members to exchange threat information with other InfraGard members around the country in a secure environment.